The WBA Looking Into Valuev Win Over Holyfield

By Eric Thomas: In news that will probably get some hope up for some boxing fans, the WBA is reportedly looking into the 12-round majority decision victory of WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) over Evander Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) that occurred on December 20th in Switzerland. The final judge’s scores were 115-114, 116-112 for Valuev and 114-114 even. After the boxing organization makes their final decision, which may take a week or two, there are a range of possibilities that could occur from the decision being reversed and Holyfield given the victory or possibly the two fighters having to meet for an immediate rematch.

It’s doubtful, however, that the WBA will completely reverse the victory and give Holyfield the win. More likely, they may force an immediate rematch between the two fighters, which probably wouldn’t make the 46-year-old Holyfield entirely happy, because he felt that he did enough to win the fight.

He’s not the only one, either. Many fans from around the World felt the same way, including many fans who were ringside in Switzerland on December 20th, who booed loudly when the final decision was given and continued to boo Valuev as he walked around the ring with his arm held up in victory.

The loss for Holyfield was made more bitter in that he was seeking his 5th heavyweight World title victory, a number which would have elevated his status even further as one of boxing’s all time great fighters.

The WBA issued the following statement about the fight: “As the World Boxing Association (WBA) always cares about and respects the fans’ and the media’s opinion, the Championship Committee has ordered a panel of judges to review the tape of the fight between Nikolai Valuev and Evander Holyfield, for the WBA heavyweight title.”

Holyfield, who was making his 2nd consecutive title challenge, appeared to win the majority of the rounds in the first half of the fight if not all of them. During that time, Holyfield moved constantly, picking his spots and then coming inside and landing hard shots to the head of the slow-moving Valuev and then getting away before the giant could respond with his own shots.

For the most part, Valuev did little in the first half of the bout, not throwing punches, appearing timid and looking as if he was sleep walking around the ring. In the 7th, Valuev finally threw his first meaningful punches in the fight, landing several hard right hands.

However, Holyfield, looking young and energetic, responded each time, countering Valuev with two and three punch combinations to the head and body. Holyfield continued to fight well until the 10th rounds, when he seemed to fade somewhat, letting Valuev land slightly more in the final three rounds.

The last three rounds, however, were still difficult to score as Holyfield landed the harder shots and almost as often as Valuev. Regardless of whether Holyfield lost all or some of the last three rounds, he appeared to have a large enough lead to win by a comfortable margin at the end.

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